I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to decorating cakes and other food products. More specifically, the present invention relates to decorating pens used to precisely extrude frosting, icing, or some other viscous material onto a substrate in an artistic fashion.
II. Related Art
Methods of dispensing cake icing are well-known. One common method is to place the icing in a cone-shaped bag such as that shown in FIG. 2. Such bags may be made of paper, cloth, and plastic. Such bags have a large top opening through which the icing is inserted into the bag. The tip of the cone-shaped bag is typically cut off as shown in FIG. 2 to create an opening through which the icing can be squeezed from the bag.
As shown in FIGS. 3-4, a nozzle can be coupled to the bag. The nozzle shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 has external threads which reside inside and adjacent a portion of the wall of the bag. A nut having internal threads is then coupled to the nozzle such that the portion of the bag wall is sandwiched between the threads of the nozzle and the threads of the nut. This not only serves to fasten the nozzle to the bag, but also ensures the icing will only exit the bag through the nozzle and not around the nozzle.
Once the nozzle is attached, the icing material is dispensed from the bag as shown in FIG. 1. Two hands are employed. One hand is used to steer the nozzle and the other hand is used to squeeze the bag and force material in the bag through the nozzle.
The foregoing method and apparatus requires great effort to squeeze the bag, which can be tiring, and a great deal of skill to move the tip about the item to be decorated to produce the desired result.
Various attempts have been made to address these problems. By way of example, commercial bakeries sometimes employ complex, expensive icing-dispensing systems such as those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,866,838 to Miles; U.S. Pat. No. 3,921,858 to Bemm, U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,450 to Alexander et al and U.S. Pat. No. 6,799,611 to Dittmar. These systems employ compressors or pumps to move the icing from a reservoir through the nozzle of an applicator. These systems are relatively complex, expensive and require substantial cleaning if the flavor or color of the icing is to be changed.
Others have employed modified caulking guns to dispense the icing. Examples are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,241,130 to Heiberger; U.S. Pat. No. 6,026,985 to Elliott, Sr.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,217,144 to Santefort et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,866 to Bergman and U.S. Pat. No. 5,361,946 to Ginther et al. These typically are used with prepackaged, prefilled icing containers. These packages can be overly expensive. Sometimes users find it desirable to use colors or flavors when decorating not offered in such packages. Users of such devices also find it difficult to control the motion of the nozzle tip with precision while actuating the mechanism that advances the piston to push icing out of the gun.
Thus, there continues to exist a need for an inexpensive applicator which can be used with the full range of icing colors and textures available, which can be safely and easily used, which requires only a single hand for operation, and which provides ease of control and precision in the decorative application of icing, frosting, ice cream or other viscous foodstuffs.